CHICAGO, Ill. – Even though it was only the second game of this Western Conference Semifinal, it seemed like a do-or-die game for the Chicago Blackhawks. In the first game, the team played one of their worse games in the whole season. Everything lacked the punch and physicality that the team had shown in last season’s playoffs. So Chicago Head Coach Joel Quenneville inserted two guys back in the lineup that can give some life into the game in forwards Adam Burish and Ben Eager who can give a push around the opponents crease and get under the goaltender’s skin. And tonight it paid dividends as the Blackhawks came from behind in the third period to win 4-2 in front of 22,142 at the United Center to send the series to Vancouver tied at one apiece. The game started ominously as the Canucks struck for two goals in the first five minutes of the game thus deflating the hometown crowd yet again.
A minute and twenty-two seconds in, Ryan Kesler shot the puck at Antti Niemi, which rebounded to Mason Raymond who roofed the shot up and into the net. But then the Blackhawks shot themselves in the foot with two delay-of-game penalties that gave Vancouver almost one and a half minutes of 5-on-3 play. At the 5:02 mark they cashed in. The Canucks cycled the puck around until it reached Henrik Sedin deep, he waited and eventually saw a spot and passed it across to right wing Mikael Samuelsson who snapped the shot on in to put his team up by two.
By now it seemed like Blackhawks’ fate was sealed, as they could not get going with their game. But a simple play spread the Canuck players around where Kris Versteeg passed the puck back to the corner to Dave Bolland behind the net. He then fired a shot straight out to a charging Brent Seabrook who reared back and got the puck in past Roberto Luongo at the 7:40 mark to bring the Blackhawks within one. This was the turning point of the game as Chicago started to bring in the energy gathered from the crowd and played the type of hockey that they are known for.
You could sense that the team was gaining momentum as the passes were crisp and the checks were being finished.
In the second, the two teams were so evenly matched that no goals were scored. There was plenty of movement east and west but not much happening in front of the nets and this was evident in a total of 16 shots on net by both teams.
The third is where the ‘Hawks rolled with three straight. On the penalty kill, Seabrook sent an outlet pass to Patrick Sharp who was rushing down the far lane, and on his center was Versteeg. With these two rushing the net, it kept Luongo at bay in not knowing who would take the puck in. But it was Sharp veering in with one defender to beat as he backhanded a shot in to tie the game at two goals apiece.
With a minute and a half left in the game, it was again Versteeg carrying the puck in to the Vancouver zone from a pass from Andrew Ladd. He went around one defender and tried to get the puck through a scrum in the crease but the puck popped out to the left wing where Seabrook was sitting who in turn centered it to fellow blue-liner Duncan Keith. Keith held onto the puck and drew a defender towards him where he snapped a shot to Versteeg who got the shot in on a diving Luongo.
With Luongo pulled, winger Patrick Kane was able to backhand the puck at the red line, which bounced right into the empty net to finish up the scoring to put the game away for the Blackhawks. This goal was Kane’s 15th in 24 playoff games.
Three Stars of the Game: Roberto Luongo (Vancouver), Third Star with 30 saves; Brent Seabrook (Chicago), Second Star with a goal and two assists; and Kris Versteeg (Chicago) with the game-winning goal and an assist in the game.
Seabrook and Versteeg finally brought their game in. Both were important cogs in last season’s playoffs and had yet to find their game in this post season until now. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as momentum will play a key in this series.
Each team was able to convert on one power play with the Canucks being called for six offenses to the ‘Hawks four.
As for Vancouver tonight, they were lucky to have Luongo keep the game close as he stopped all but three of the thirty-three shots he faced. There were plenty of opportunities where the Blackhawks were able to escape with odd man rushes with a handful of times that Luongo was facing a one-on-one but stood tall in stopping the rush. The Canucks seemed to chase the puck around but were not able to get it out of the Blackhawks hands. You could feel that Niemi was gaining back his confidence with every save he made blocking 24 of 26 shots. All season long, the Blackhawk netminder has been able to bounce back from one bad game with one that he is strong and wins.
Western Conference Semifinals (best-of-7) W2 Chicago Blackhawks vs. W Vancouver Canucks
Series Tied at 1
Game 1 – Saturday, May 1 – Vancouver 5 at Chicago 1 Game 2 – Monday, May 3 – Vancouver 2 at Chicago 4 Game 3 – Wednesday, May 5 – Chicago at Vancouver, 8:30pm Game 4 – Friday, May 7 – Chicago at Vancouver, 8:30pm *Game 5 – Sunday, May 9 – Vancouver at Chicago, 7:00pm *Game 6 – Tuesday, May 11 – Chicago at Vancouver, 8:30pm *Game 7 – Thursday, May 13 – Vancouver at Chicago, 7:00pm
* if necessary; All times Central
Contact the author at Matt.Chin@prohockeynews.com
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